Classica Sinica Medica

卑監 简体 卑监

bēi jiān

Low Confinement · bei jian

Also rendered: Low Confinement (this site; 卑 is low ground and 監 is overseeing from above, so the name is earth sunk below its own charge) · Bei jian (transliteration; how the name appears in tables of the fifteen circuits)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-13

At a glance

Pinyin
bēi jiān
Simplified
卑监
Literal
卑 bēi — low, low-lying (《說文》: 卑，賤也; the received sense here is low ground); 監 jiān — to oversee, to hold within bounds (《說文》: 監，臨下也). 卑監 is earth that has sunk and can no longer oversee: the ground is low and what it should hold it lets go. The chapter names the 紀 減化, the diminishing transformation, and the name is the only one of the five short names that is about a place rather than a state of the phase.
Shuowen
**「卑監」本篇2見：一在「土曰卑監」，一在「卑監之紀」**；**《說文》：卑，賤也；監，臨下也**；**「減化」本篇1見，即卑監之紀之名**；**「從木化也」本篇1見、「邪傷脾也」本篇2見，皆卑監之文**；**「秀而不實」本篇1見，卑監之文**

In brief

Earth falling short. 土曰卑監 — earth is called low confinement — and its 紀 is 減化: 卑監之紀，是謂減化。化氣不令，生政獨彰，長氣整，雨乃愆，收氣平，風寒並興. The transforming qi no longer gives the command; the qi that gives birth stands out alone; the growing is trimmed even; the rain misses its time; the harvesting stays level; wind and cold rise together. Then what is seen: 草木榮美，秀而不實，成而粃也 — the plants are handsome and flower, and come to nothing; what ripens is chaff. Nothing in this paragraph is violent. Earth short does not destroy the year; it lets the year flower and then fails to fill it, which is why its 紀 is called 減化 and its harm, when it falls, is the spleen’s. Its 從 is wood, 從木化也 — the phase that overcomes earth — and its 眚 comes on the four corners.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graph 卑監
卑者下也，監者臨下也
土曰卑監 — Suwen 70
2
Its 紀 name 減化
化者土之事，減者損也，土不及則化減
卑監之紀，是謂減化 — Suwen 70
3
Its disorder 化氣不令，生政獨彰
當化者不令，當生者獨彰
化氣不令，生政獨彰 — Suwen 70
4
What is seen 秀而不實，成而粃也
草木華美而不結實，成者皆粃
秀而不實，成而粃也 — Suwen 70
5
What it turns into 從木化也
土不及則木乘之，故從木化
從木化也 — Suwen 70
6
Where the harm falls 邪傷脾也
土之藏為脾，不及則脾受邪
邪傷脾也 — Suwen 70

Occurrences in the classics

Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.

Display
1 passages
Suwen 70 Suwen 70 · 五常政大論 Read in context →
卑監之紀，是謂減化。化氣不令，生政獨彰，長氣整，雨乃愆，收氣平，風寒並興，草木榮美，秀而不實，成而粃也。 卑监之纪，是谓减化。化气不令，生政独彰，长气整，雨乃愆，收气平，风寒并兴，草木荣美，秀而不实，成而秕也。
Bēi jiān zhī jì, shì wèi jiǎn huà. Huà qì bù lìng, shēng zhèng dú zhāng, zhǎng qì zhěng, yǔ nǎi qiān, shōu qì píng, fēng hán bìng xīng, cǎo mù róng měi, xiù ér bù shí, chéng ér bǐ yě.
The era of Low Confinement is called reduced transformation: the qi of transformation does not command, the governance of growth alone is displayed, the qi of growth is ordered, rain misses its time, the qi of harvest is level, wind and cold rise together; plants and trees are fair and flourishing but flower without fruiting, and what ripens is chaff.
**「卑監」本篇2見：一在「土曰卑監」，一在「卑監之紀」**；**此段以「減化」名其紀，六句狀其亂：化氣不令、生政獨彰、長氣整、雨乃愆、收氣平、風寒並興**；**「秀而不實，成而粃也」為五不及中最靜之象：不毀物而終不實**；**次段「從木化也」，再次段「邪傷脾也」，眚在四維**

Compounds built on this term

備化
bèi huà
complete transformation
本篇2見；土之平氣，與卑監對
敦阜
dūn fù
mounded height
本篇2見；土太過之名，其紀曰廣化
減化
jiǎn huà
the diminishing transformation
本篇1見；卑監之紀之名，與廣化相對
秀而不實
xiù ér bù shí
it flowers and does not fill
本篇1見；卑監之紀所見

How it has been translated

Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.

This sitelow confinementearth sunk and unable to hold; the rendering keeps both halves, the lowness and the charge it can no longer keep
Transliterationbei jianright about the referent, and it explains nothing about lowness or oversight
Descriptiveearth falling shortexact, and it loses the figure of the low ground that makes this name different from the other four

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2026-10-13

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